RexTalionis:Republicans seem to think that all their problems with Hispanics would be forgotten if they nominate Marco Rubio in 2016.

I don't know this for sure, but my understanding from friends is that Cubans and most other Hispanic subgroups aren't exactly on the best of terms.

And, while the electorate is certainly fickle beyond reason, simply trotting out someone the same color doesn't usually work well when the rest of the party command and base is still howling 'bout them wetbacks. We saw this with the Michael Steele, when the GOP was all "Check it, a homey! You 'thugs' love this right? Brotherhood" and it went over like a wet fart in church.

Cubans are also part of the shrinking GOP base. It's not like we have a fresh supply of incoming Cubans. Plus, younger Cubans don't always share the same attitudes of their parents and grandparents. They don't have that same visceral bitterness.

In a way, Cubans are a personification of the GOP's challenges. Shrinking base + youth + diversity (of other Latinos) = bad news for GOP.

ManateeGag:Seriously? Most of the Cubans I know HATE Obama because they think he's a communist.

There seems to have been significant gains for Obama among Cuban-Americans in FL, particularly in Miami-Dade and Broward. Looks like Romney still won out, even though Miami-Dade as a whole went for Obama by about 61%. But there are gains there.One thing a lot of people don't take into account is that the shifting demographics of the rest of the country also come into play in the Cuban community. The first and second generations are dying out. People who fled Cuba in 1960 aren't the predominant block 52 years later. There's a whole lot of American born Cubans, and they don't see the world the same way their grandparents did. They have black friends, they have gay friends, they're trying to get through college, or get their kids through college. For a young Cuban-American who's never been to Cuba, hell, who's parents have never been to Cuba, the anti-Castro rhetoric just doesn't have the same hold on them. They weren't at the Bay of Pigs.And while Cuban-Americans hold a distinct place in South Florida, they're still just Latinos when they go anywhere else.Times are changing. Republicans are being left behind.

propasaurus:ManateeGag: Seriously? Most of the Cubans I know HATE Obama because they think he's a communist.

There seems to have been significant gains for Obama among Cuban-Americans in FL, particularly in Miami-Dade and Broward. Looks like Romney still won out, even though Miami-Dade as a whole went for Obama by about 61%. But there are gains there.One thing a lot of people don't take into account is that the shifting demographics of the rest of the country also come into play in the Cuban community. The first and second generations are dying out. People who fled Cuba in 1960 aren't the predominant block 52 years later. There's a whole lot of American born Cubans, and they don't see the world the same way their grandparents did. They have black friends, they have gay friends, they're trying to get through college, or get their kids through college. For a young Cuban-American who's never been to Cuba, hell, who's parents have never been to Cuba, the anti-Castro rhetoric just doesn't have the same hold on them. They weren't at the Bay of Pigs.And while Cuban-Americans hold a distinct place in South Florida, they're still just Latinos when they go anywhere else.Times are changing. Republicans are being left behind.

THIS. Many of the Cubans who hold a grudge against Kennedy are already dead.

Elandriel:RexTalionis: Republicans seem to think that all their problems with Hispanics would be forgotten if they nominate Marco Rubio in 2016.

I don't know this for sure, but my understanding from friends is that Cubans and most other Hispanic subgroups aren't exactly on the best of terms.

And, while the electorate is certainly fickle beyond reason, simply trotting out someone the same color doesn't usually work well when the rest of the party command and base is still howling 'bout them wetbacks. We saw this with the Michael Steele, when the GOP was all "Check it, a homey! You 'thugs' love this right? Brotherhood" and it went over like a wet fart in church.

Diogenes:Cubans are also part of the shrinking GOP base. It's not like we have a fresh supply of incoming Cubans. Plus, younger Cubans don't always share the same attitudes of their parents and grandparents. They don't have that same visceral bitterness.

In a way, Cubans are a personification of the GOP's challenges. Shrinking base + youth + diversity (of other Latinos) = bad news for GOP.

I still hope obama has the cojones to pull a 'nixon in china' and just end the stupid blockade and normalize relations. it's dragged on long enough and the surest way to bring down castro communism is the lust for shiny new things.

propasaurus:ManateeGag: Seriously? Most of the Cubans I know HATE Obama because they think he's a communist.

There seems to have been significant gains for Obama among Cuban-Americans in FL, particularly in Miami-Dade and Broward. Looks like Romney still won out, even though Miami-Dade as a whole went for Obama by about 61%. But there are gains there.One thing a lot of people don't take into account is that the shifting demographics of the rest of the country also come into play in the Cuban community. The first and second generations are dying out.

I've always had a sense that the most Republican-friendly Cubans would move straight back to Cuba the minute Castro dies anyway. It just happened that Castro lived so long that next gen Cuban-Americans ended up integrating into the larger Democratic-friendly Hispanic-American culture.

RexTalionis:Republicans seem to think that all their problems with Hispanics would be forgotten if they nominate Marco Rubio in 2016.

I don't know this for sure, but my understanding from friends is that Cubans and most other Hispanic subgroups aren't exactly on the best of terms.

Which group gets fast-tracked to citizenship after stepping on American soil? If fellow Americans get tetchy over freebies given to the poor, just think what other Hispanics think about Cubans? No, Cuban out-reach isn't the path to solving the GOP Latino problem. It's deeper than Steve King or Louis Gophert flapping their lips, as well.

ManateeGag:Seriously? Most of the Cubans I know HATE Obama because they think he's a communist.

That's not fair.. Don't broad brush all Cubans. They are not that all teabag stupid.Could it be that the Cuban American community don't see Rubio and the great brown hope that the GOP does?Could it be that the Cuban American are not the monolithic right wing uninformed voters their parents are? It couldn't be the issues could it?

Cubans who fled the revolution are dying out, they were almost entirely hardcore anti-communists. The younger people of Cuban descent don't share the same single-mindedness of their parents and grandparents. Besides, the Castro regime will be coming to an end soon. Today's Cuban Americans are suffering from the same problems as everyone else....a decrease in the standard of living, anxiety about health care, jobs, education, etc. The GOP can no longer think of Cuban Americans as being in the bag.

Elandriel:RexTalionis: Republicans seem to think that all their problems with Hispanics would be forgotten if they nominate Marco Rubio in 2016.

I don't know this for sure, but my understanding from friends is that Cubans and most other Hispanic subgroups aren't exactly on the best of terms.

And, while the electorate is certainly fickle beyond reason, simply trotting out someone the same color doesn't usually work well when the rest of the party command and base is still howling 'bout them wetbacks. We saw this with the Michael Steele, when the GOP was all "Check it, a homey! You 'thugs' love this right? Brotherhood" and it went over like a wet fart in church.

sammyk:doyner: The moment that GOP Miami Cubans no longer can win Florida's electoral votes is the moment we finally normalize relations with Cuba.

STUDY IT OUT!

I'm cool with that. If you can get there on a kayak we should do what we can to have a good relationship with them.

I'm hoping we normalize relations in the next 10 years, as Cuba is on my A-List for cheap Latin American retirement destinations. Warm weather, educated population, cheap housing, and if I need to go to the states Jet Blue will have hourly Havana - Miami service for $39.95 each way.

Kevin72:Gyrfalcon: When Fidel dies in another couple of years and Raul normalizes relations with the US, it's going to be a moot point.

Zombie Castro witnesses 14 US elections since taking power; how many more will he survive past.

I can't imagine too many. Raul has essentially been in power for what, the last five or six years at least; and the Cuban emigration policy was just relaxed last month. He's gotta die in the next ten or 20 years max; Fidel has been in very poor health for quite some time. He lived the Evil Communist Dictator dream anyway (he did something none of his Soviet overlords managed) so outlasting the embargo doesn't really matter at this point. All the anti-Castro Cubans are in pretty much the same boat. They're all old or dying, and in another 20 years, they won't matter as a force in US politics beyond noise.

So once that bloc is gone, or when Fidel is dead enough that Raul can make diplomatic overtures to the US without soiling his memory, the Cuban population in Miami will have zero power.

I tuned into a local Spanish talk-radio station in Miami a couple of weeks ago and some old lady had called into the show babbling about how Obama was a communist. I had to change the channel. You'd think these people would know what real communism is like. I think they see Obama as a sleeper communist, just waiting to declare marshal law, abolish elections, outlaw religion, and nationalize the private sector. The levels of stupidity are tea-party high!

Luckily, younger Cuban descendants (like myself) are much more enlightened to the fact that the real danger to this country is right-wing propaganda machines like Fox News that breed fear, hatred, and ignorance -- just like state-run TV stations do in places like Cuba and North Korea.